Slash Admits Guns N’ Roses’ Songs Are ‘Sort of Sexist’

Guns N' Roses songs like "I Used to Love Her" and "Back Off Bitch" caused allegations of sexism to be leveled at the band back in the day. In a new interview, Slash admitted that he can now see why that was the case, but he also defended the material, saying they weren't "malicious" and that the #MeToo movement hasn't even made him second-guess their lyrics.

“I’ve never thought of that. It’s never crossed my mind," he told Yahoo! Entertainment. "I mean, I think when the #MeToo thing really blew up, the thought crossed my mind of a bunch of musicians, not particular ones, but just musicians [who might be implicated]. But for the most part, as far as all the ones I know, it wasn’t like that. We didn’t have that particular [predatory] relationship with girls. It was a lot more the other way around in some cases. Anyway, so some of the songs and all that were sort of sexist in their own way, but not to be taken that seriously. I don’t think they were malicious or anything.”

The guitarist said he also sees a correlation between the more enlightened approach toward women in lyrics today and the decline of the rock 'n' roll attitude that was offered by Guns N' Roses and their contemporaries decades ago.

"That sort of spirit, it’s still around," Slash noted. "It’s still inherent in metal bands. It’s still inherent in young bands who have something that they want to express that maybe they’re not having the easiest time dealing with. But that attitude really is not something fabricated, and so right now at this particular point in time, a lot of bands or a lot of artists are doing a lot of different things — and not much of it is really rock 'n’ roll. There’s nothing to rebel against. … I think trying to figure out how to have the attitude in your music, and songs, and so forth, is probably difficult for a lot of young bands because now it’s about politics again. So we’ll see what that turns into.”

Slash will release Living in Paradise, his third album with Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, in a couple weeks. He begins a month-long tour of North America on Sept. 13; you can see the dates here.